Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Thank you so much for your lovely words on my knitted lilac top. My passion for knitting is growing and I'm so happy to hear how people around think or feel about my "achievement" in knitting - yes, whenever a knitted project is done, it's such an achievement to me! So, thank you!

See what I'm so excited to show you today - my Sunday Morning Sweater (just simply I finished it in a beautiful morning of a beautiful Sunday)! You can guess how much I'm happy with the result!

I have made three sweaters so far and this one is my best loved ever! It looks just too cute and stylish, doesn't it!!!

I found the pattern on Pickles and I just loved it. It's also available on Ravelry. The pattern (for size XS) calls for 200gr cotton yarn, but not sure how mine would turn out so I used 2 balls of Lion Brand Cotton Ease in my stash for the first try. Actually 1 ball I ripped out from a hat which I rarely wore.

I was worried I would run out of yarn as the yardage of my yarn is different from Pickles', not to mention it was not a full skein after being ripped out from the hat. I decided to "insert" some rounds/rows with the pink Lion Brand Wool Ease leftover instead of buying one more skein of cotton yarn. So happy with my decision: pictured is how much yarn leftover after my sweater was all done! Just about 2 meters! Good way to clear my stash!!! :)

Again, this sweater fits me wonderfully! I pretty much love the pattern, it's very easy and fast to knit. The only thing that I was struggling with is the Kitchener stitch to join front and back side of the shoulders together. I had to unravel and try again, and again, as if I could never go right with this technique, until I found this wonderful video. I digged out Youtube and watched many videos about Kitchener stitch during the time, but this one is really a big help to me! Things turned to so easy and so fun with it!

I love most of the patterns from Pickles. They are almost seemless, knitted in the round, simple and very easy to knit. They are also very beautiful! This pattern is knitted very quickly on size 10 needles, and the pink lines by chance make it sweeter!

I will make this sweater again, for sure. This is just a try to use up some leftover scrap yarns but it came out amazingly. The color is so sweet, too!! How many times did I tell you I love it?!!! :)

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you all are having a beautiful week!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

I finished this top a couple of weeks ago, but have still not posted about it yet. Sweetie has been having a neck pain so he couldn't take photo for me. It had been put it away until this morning...

This morning was such a beautiful one, with sunshine and some light winds, and Sweetie is getting better. He helped to take some pictures of me wearing it... It looks quite nice and I'm pretty much pleased with it!

I found the pattern, Girly Top on Ravelry when I was looking for a top to knit. It's so simple and very easy to knit. Love this pattern, it's knitted in the round, from bottom up, all just in one piece! I think it's perfect for any beginners! Here is how it looks when lying flat:

Using Patons Brilliant yarn for this top, I followed the pattern for size S but used larger needles (4.0mm for ribbing and 4.5mm for the rest). I liked everything about this top pattern, but millions
of stockinette stitches just took me FOREVER to finish! Finally done (phew!). So happy it fits me well!

It's so hard to take a good photo of the top with this yarn, a metallic yarn for a sparkle look. One thing I liked best about the yarn is it's smooth and easily fits, I almost didn't block though, just did some light sprays and let it dry naturally. I pretty like the yoke...

... and another look from the back - actually it's the same for both sides :).

I'm wearing it tomorrow, hope my colleagues like it. They saw me knitting it during a company trip! :)

Thank you so much for popping in. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

I'm choosing yarn for another sockhead hat to join the sockhead hat KAL hosted by Stitchy Mc Floss as an encouragement to dearest Pammy Sue. Pammy Sue at Scotty's Place teaches herself to knit and she wanted to knit a sockhead hat from the pattern I used to make my "Fancy hat" previously.

Maybe I will use the lightweight yarn leftover from a knitted top (will take photos to show you very shortly!) for matching. If you do knit, just pick up some yarn and let her know you are knitting a sockhead hat with her, too! Even if you don't knit, why don't you take this chance to give it a try together with Pammy Sue! We knit and learn together! This is going to be a lovely encouragement to her with lots of fun! :)

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Well, just to share with you some new yarn I bought when Herrschners.com was having late summer yarn sale and I was so happy to get some more beautiful yarns to my stash. They also have weekly yarn sale and needlework sale as well.

Caron Simply Soft Collection 3oz balls in Aqua mist, I so much love the yarn and the color is so much sweeter than pictured on the sites. I've been thinking of an aqua sweater!

And these 6oz balls Caron Simply Soft are still being sold there at normal price, I picked some balls in Lavender, Autumn Red and Persimmon. A dear friend of mine chooses Caron Simply Soft for most of her projects and I'm inspired by her love for this yarn!

I also want to try different yarn brands. Department 71 in Strawberry, wool blend, so soft and so beautiful! I took 4 skeins hoping it's enough for a sweater or a cardigan. Gosh, I'm obsessed with knitting and Ravelry now, lots of patterns of sweater, cardigan, top, pullover,... they are overwhelming my mind that I don't know which one should be made first! :)

The yarn with a little twist in it, will create a beautiful fabric. This can be good for baby projects as well due to the softness and the darling color...

This is one of my favorite colors, green! Lighthouse Cape Cod yarn, I've been thinking a lot about what to make with this beautiful yarn...

I love the tweedy look of it! Still not yet decided what it will be for, but surely must be something wearable! So happy I can knit! :)

And here is Reynolds Playtime yarn in Cream camel. This yarn has been discontinued and was on sale as well. I should have taken 10 balls instead of 8 to ease my mind from the worry of running out of yarn, will look for a pattern called for the same yardage anyway.

The yarn is not too soft, but it's beautiful, wool blend and lightweight. It is described: "Reynolds Play Time is a perfect kid yarn – if something is dropped on
it, you can put it in the washer, toss it in the dryer, and it’s good as
new". Sounds interesting! Maybe I should keep this for my kids when I have? :)

I cannot help myself taking home more yarn. Wish I could have a craft room. My stash is now full of yarn, including some I bought from local store, a lot actually, not to mention to crochet thread! A friend asked me once, "when do you expect you will use up all these yarns?". Honestly I have no idea... Just keep adding to my stash faster than I can use from it. I'm crazy about yarn, am I??? But I'm trying, so much, to attempt to keep it under control. Maybe one of my resolutions next year is "not to buy more yarn"! :)

Sunday, October 21, 2012

I didn't want to put half a ball of yarn left from the fancy "sea-foam" scarf back to my stash, so I looked for a matching hat pattern. Lucky me I found a very lovely pattern on Ravelry named "Sockhead hat".

This is the first time I heard about "sockhead" and found it's so interesting to try. It came out pretty lovely!

My yarn is a medium weight, heavier than what is called for - a light weight sock yarn, so after checking my gauge I decided to cast on less stitches: only 80 stitches on 5.0mm circular needles. My work was done so quickly with these much fewer number of stitches!

I love the pattern and how it turned out, it's very easy and fun to knit! It just took me two nights to finish. The brim folded up is so comfy...

... and I especially love the slouch!

Even how it looks when lying flat is also fun! If this is not what I made, I would hardly believe it is a hat!

Thank you so much for your time, wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

I hardly believe it's been over a month since I did a blog post, just feel it's been ages! I have not been blogging, either visiting blogs or responding your comments during the time... Please accept my apologies for the silence. Life has been so messy lately, so many things have happened that kept me too busy to update my blog as well kept me away from blogland.

I would like to send a huge thank you to you all, my bloggy friends, who have still been visiting, leaving kind messages to ask if I am OK or just simply stopping by to say Hello... Just let you know how much I do appreciate that... I would also like to thank you very much to my new followers, I'm so happy you find my blog somehow interesting and keep following it. Please give me some time to visit you back and enjoy your creations... It may be a bit late, I know, but surely I will.

Well, I finished this scarf last month but have been waiting for a while to post it...

The scarf is from a very easy and popular drop stitch pattern, named "seafoam". Lace scarf is one of my favorites, mainly because of the "not so cold" weather where I live, so when I first saw this pattern in my knitting book, I told myself I must give it a go. If you have not yet tried, it's mindless knitting and really fun to make!

A closer look at the sea-foam stitches...

When I uploaded the scarf to my projects on Ravelry, I found there's another pattern available, and it's completely the same as the pattern in my book, even has the same name, "seafoam". "Seafoam scarf" on Ravelry - in case you wonder.

I used a Bernat big ball (10oz - 300gr) for the scarf. This yarn is really nice to work with, it's beautiful and softer than some other types of Bernat worsted. I so much love it. The loveliest part of this yarn is you don't have to join new yarn during the work, one ball makes it all! After this scarf I still have a half a ball left so I'm looking for a hat pattern to match with.

I have made several scarfs so far, but this is the first one I made for myself. I love it. I can imagine I'm wearing it, when my sweetie and I are enjoying a walk, on a cool autumn evening... :)